Despite getting a later start than usual in watching a film to review, I felt Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) too big a feature to pass up today.  I have done so a number of times before, opting for shorter flicks in order to keep up with my desire to bring you daily posts.  I am also cognizant that sometimes this means me choosing movies that appeal to me personally.  The deeper I go in my Faith, the less inclined I feel to look at movies like today’s.  And this one is pretty tame as compared to some others I could bring you, or some that I have already covered.  With this in mind, and based on my vague recollections of a previous viewing from over twenty years ago, I thought there could be at least a solid Catholic message to glean from it.  After all, during the opening credits, the camera briefly focuses on a statue of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  You can always tell it is her as she is invariably depicted holding a Crucifix and a bundle of roses, earning her the nickname “The Little Flower.”  As you will see with the rest of this discussion, the movie has nothing to do with her and is far from “little.”  I am guessing somebody on the set saw the figurine and mistook it for the Virgin Mary.  At the same time, maybe we can see in her dedication to being a nun during her short life a desire to pursue an alternative to the lifestyle of the main characters?

The first person to which we are introduced in Gone in 60 Seconds, Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi), is not the main character.  He and a few of his accomplices have been hired by Raymond Vincent Calitri (Christopher Eccleston) to boost a number of cars.  Kip is a bit reckless, above and beyond mere lawbreaking, in his pursuit of this errand.  The brick he throws through the window of a car dealership to steal a Porsche brings the attention of the police.  The authorities come to the warehouse where the illicit merchandise is being collected, and the criminals are forced to flee.  Raymond places the blame on Kip.  One of Raymond’s associates, Atley Jackson (Will Patton), and a friend of Kip, is the one who contacts the would-be thief’s older brother, Randall “Memphis” Raines (Nicolas Cage).  Memphis was once a legendary carjacker, but gave up his errant ways to make an honest wage.  Later we learn that he made the change for his mother, Helen Raines (Grace Zabriskie), because she did not want the younger son taking after his elder sibling.  Memphis goes to Raymond and offers to buy Kip’s way out of the trouble the young man is in, but the gangster refuses.  Raymond had promised to provide to people more powerful than him a set of fifty cars.  With Memphis back in town, Raymond now has the right person to fulfill this order, threatening to kill Kip if Memphis does not cooperate.  Reluctantly, Memphis agrees to fulfill the contract, having four days to do so, and promising mom that he will once more save their family.  He will not be doing this alone.  Among his initial recruits is his mentor and current body ship owner Otto Halliwell (Robert Duvall).  Though Otto claims retirement, when Memphis says that it is Kip who is in trouble, the aged mechanic accedes to helping.  Otto’s main form of assistance is to provide names that could be a part of Memphis’ potential crew.  None of these are really important to the plot, save for, I guess, Sara “Sway” Wayland (Angelina Jolie), who is Memphis’ love interest.  Understandably wanting to contribute since it is his life on the line, Kip joins along with the people with which he had previously worked.  Because this is one of those films, there is the inevitable police presence with Detectives Roland Castlebeck (Delroy Lindo) and Drycoff (Timothy Olyphant).  Detective Castlebeck had a previous run-in with Memphis, and thus is suspicious of the former thief being around after they had seemingly put a stop to a major heist.  While Memphis is too cagey for the cops, one of Kip’s friends, Tumbler (Scott Caan), is not so careful.  A tip leads the sleuths to a car dealership where they see Tumbler purchase some keys that can be used to get into a vehicle that does not belong to them.  With a few more near misses with the authorities, Memphis’ team waits until the last day of the deadline to make their move, previously scouting out the location of all their target cars.  For most of this day, the stolen vehicles come rolling into Raymond’s containers at the dockyards with little trouble.  This includes evading the detectives’ detection with the aforementioned keys.  It changes as the deadline approaches when it is revealed that in the earlier heist-attempt, the criminals had been using blacklight.  Taking a device of their own to the warehouse, Detectives Castlebeck and Drycoff are able to uncover a list of vehicles.  Detective Drycoff points out the obvious: that they cannot hope to track down all these cars.  Yet, knowing Memphis as does Detective Castlebeck, the cop remembers there is one vehicle that the thief will save for last: a 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500.  It is an automobile Memphis refers to as a unicorn because of all the bad luck that has befallen him at the wheel of one.  Getting in, he promises to take care of it if it takes care of him.  We Catholics do not believe that inanimate objects merit humanization such as seen here, but the sentiment is nice.  Anyway, what follows is an over-the-top chase sequence that need not be described.  What it does accomplish is that it leads the police to where Raymond’s operation is headquartered.  They arrive just as Memphis is squaring off with the British gangster, and the reformed criminal ends up saving the life of Detective Castlebeck.  In exchange, the lawman lets Memphis go despite the mayhem he just caused, and he has a happy ending with all his crew.

In case it was not clear from my synopsis, Gone in 60 Seconds is a straightforward action flick that people watch for the cool cars rather than a sensible plot.  This can pose difficulties for a Catholic reviewer like me, though as hinted at in the introduction, there are some tidbits that connect to the Faith.  Another is when Otto describes his shift to legal work, saying he is no longer a “destroyer” of vehicles, meaning a “chop shop” that dismantles stolen automobiles for money.  Instead, he is a “resurrector,” which is only lightly blasphemous.  It is people who receive resurrection, not objects. Luckily, there is a brief scene at the end that gives me a little more meat into which to sink my Catholic teeth.  It comes from the hulking Sphinx (Vinnie Jones).  We encounter him early on working as a mortician, which is a Godly profession as seen in the Bible.  Why he also steals cars on the side is beyond me.  When he finally speaks, he surprises everyone by giving a small but moving soliloquy on the wounding of Toby (William Lee Scott), the crew’s computer expert.  Sphinx talks about how such physical damage can lead to redemption for the person who receives the wound, giving a wakeup call to lead a new life.  There is a practical application to this philosophy.  After all, we burn our hand on a hot stove as a child and we learn to not get close to heating surfaces.  Unsurprisingly, the spiritual application is a little trickier, but far more fulfilling.  Sin is what wounds us in regards to our relationship with God.  It can trigger a desire to change, which can be a good thing when handled with care.  The best thing one can do, particularly for us Catholics, is to take that willingness to do better with you to the Confessional.  At the same time, we need to be careful about implementing changes in some situations.  St. Ignatius of Loyola would tell you that making any alterations of your life while in a state of desolation as caused by sin can be dangerous.  Good intentions will take us far, and God appreciates them, yet acting too rashly can lead to worse problems.

Like we see in the movie, I can now cross Gone in 60 Secongs off the list of films to review for The Legionnaire.  If you like car chases and explosions, then this is the one for you.  If you need a little more substance, see something else.